Joseph Michael Medwick
The Basics
|
Position |
Bat |
Thw |
Total
Yrs |
Yrs in
StL |
HR |
RBI |
SB |
Avg |
|
Outfield |
Right |
Right |
1932-1948 |
1932-'40, '47-'48 |
152 |
923 |
28 |
.335 |
The Awards
|
Hall of
Fame |
Retired
# |
World
Champ |
All-Star |
MVP |
Cy
Young |
Gold
Glove |
|
1968 |
- |
1 |
7 |
1937 |
NA |
NA |
Note: All stats and awards listed are for years as a Cardinal only.
Medwick’s career stats available from baseball-reference.com.
Voter Comments
Rob Rains (7):
I personally had Medwick higher on the all-time list, based on his career accomplishments. Every time some National League player begins the year on an offensive tear, he is linked to Medwick’s 1937 season, still the last time an NL player won the league’s Triple Crown. That season, he hit .374 with 31 home runs and 154 RBIs, still the Cardinals’ single-season record. The league Most Valuable Player that year, Medwick’s career .335 average ranks third all-time by a Cardinal.
Jerry Modene (20):
As dangerous a hitter as Johnny Mize, Medwick played with the Cards a bit longer, won a Triple Crown in 1937, and won a World Championship with the Cards (Mize was gone by the time the Cards started winning championships in the 1940’s) so he rates a notch higher.
Never a popular man with his teammates, old Muscles (he hated the nickname “Ducky Wucky”) softened in the 1960’s, when it came time for him to get into the Hall of Fame. He wasn’t much of a defensive outfielder, but good enough – and did I mention how dangerous a hitter he was?
Famous for the vegetable-throwing incident in the seventh game in Detroit in 1934; he was one hit short of tying the then-record for most hits in a single World Series when he was taken out of that game.
Ray Mileur (22):
The left fielder of the Gas House gang in the 30’s, Joe “Ducky” Medwick was a 10-time All-Star and finished his 17-year major league career with a lifetime batting average of .324.
Medwick won the Most Valuable Player award the National League Triple Crown in 1937. Not only did he lead the league in batting average (.374), home runs (31) and RBIs (154), but he led in base hits (237), doubles (56) and runs scored (111), while striking out only 50 times and leading the National League outfielders with a .988 fielding average.
A great all-around athlete, Medwick turned down a football scholarship from Notre Dame’s legendary Knute Rockne. Clearly one of the best players of his time, Medwick was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1968.
Brian Walton (11):
The Jersey native signed as an 18-year old and after hitting .419 and .354 his first two minor league seasons, Medwick came up for good from the Houston Buffs in the fall of 1932. While his 1937 Triple Crown season has yet to be duplicated in the League in the 70 years since, it was far from the only standout year Medwick put together.
Jerry noted Medwick’s success in the 1934 Series against the Tigers during which he had to be removed due to fan misbehavior following a hard slide and after having slammed eleven hits. The next season, he batted .353 with 82 extra-base hits and 126 RBI. Then in 1936, setting up the Triple Crown campaign, Medwick’s amazing 64 doubles set a National League record – a high-water mark that has not been exceeded in either league since, even by steroid-driven sluggers of the modern era.
Though the Cardinals were able to re-ascend to the top two years later, the 1940 “trade” of Medwick to Brooklyn for players and $125,000 was a sad time for Cardinals fans. Appropriately, “Muscles” Medwick returned to St. Louis in 1947 and 1948 to close out his Hall of Fame career as a Redbird.
Voter Comments Key: Voter (Individual Ranking); NR = Not Rated
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